After having multiple planned cycling events cancelled in Europe over the last 2 years, we were looking forward to a summer of races and sportives in New Zealand. Sadly, the omicron variant finally breached the NZ border and thanks to the outbreak, the events we had been training for – the Milford Mountain Classic in February, and then the 4 day Tour of Northland in March – were cancelled.
Luckily we were still able to go to the South Island with Ride Holidays as planned and got to do the route of the Milford Mountain Classic (see Mark’s write up here). One of the few perks of Covid is that the roads, normally full of cars, campervans, buses and tourist traffic have been spectacularly quiet. Faced with a week of annual leave, and a cancelled Tour of Northland, we wanted to take advantage of these still quiet roads before the border (partially) reopens to the world on 12 April.
Ideas were bandied around. But after much research, chatting to friends and google searches, cycling the Forgotten World Highway caught our attention.
Listed by the Lonely Planet as one of the top 10 bike rides in the world, the Forgotten World Highway is a 180km route between Taumaranui in the Central North Island, through back country roads and farmland to end by the sea on the Coastal Walkway in New Plymouth.
As it’s an A to B route, rather than a loop, it made for some logistical problems. Whilst it was easy enough to find ride reports and blogs on the internet and details of the route itself, finding a solution of how to get back to the car from the end of the ride wasn’t so easy, unless one was able to park a car at one end, and somehow have a second car at the other. Eventually, after much google searching, I found this company, Eastern Taranaki Experience, who were able to either drop us off at the Taumaranui start (leaving the car at the New Plymouth end) or vice versa – picking up the car at Taumaranui and driving it to New Plymouth whilst we completed the ride. Either way, as it would be a 7 hour round trip for the drivers it wasn’t cheap.
David, the father of one of our London cycling friends (Alex, with whom we have had many a bike adventure, see here for example) lives in NZ. Although we had never previously met him, he has been a great source of cycling information ever since we arrived and once we told him we were thinking of riding the Forgotten World Highway, our Whatsapp group became rather more active with lots of route suggestions and ideas, offers to drop us off or pick us up and an invitation to visit and stay with him in New Plymouth.
As David will be moving back to Indonesia soon, we decided to take up his lovely offer and visit him in New Plymouth. Instead of doing the full Forgotten World Highway route, we would do a loop instead from New Plymouth and then ride the Forgotten World Highway (State Highway 43) from Stratford to Whangamomona, before taking an alternative route via back country roads to New Plymouth the following day. This also gave us a good reason to return next summer to do the entire Highway with other friends who were unable to join this trip.
Day 1
And so it was that early on a Friday morning in mid-March, with bags packed for an overnight stay, David, Mark and I set out from New Plymouth, picking up David’s friend Ross en route to ride out to Whangamomona.
Whilst there is a direct road from New Plymouth to Stratford (State Highway 3), it is unpleasant with cars whizzing by and a narrow hard shoulder full of gravel and glass (we cycled part of it during our previous trip here in 2016) which is typical of many main roads in NZ. Why there is so much glass on NZ roads I do not know.
It was great to follow a local. We zig zagged through side streets in New Plymouth and we were soon on quiet country roads where we rarely saw any cars.
There were great views of the mighty Mount Taranaki, an almost perfect cone shaped volcano, all morning on our right. It is the second highest peak in the North Island, and is an active volcano although the last eruption was in 1854.
We all rode at our own pace but waited and met up again in Inglewood.
Whilst it was a bright and sunny morning, it was cold and we kept our jackets on for the first few hours. It was hard work riding into a constant headwind on rolling terrain and progress was slow. I think we averaged a pathetic 18kph for the first 60km to Stratford.
A few kilometres outside Ingelwood our routes diverged; David and Ross turned left to continue on the small country roads to Whangamomona whereas Mark and I turned right to continue to Stratford. At Midhirst we had to re-join State Highway 3 for several kilometres which was an unpleasant experience. Although there was a hard shoulder most of the way, like most NZ roads, there was a lot of glass and gravel. Plus the hard shoulder disappeared altogether on a few of the (thankfully) short bridges we had to go over.
With Stratford being the last place to get supplies before joining the Forgotten World Highway, it was a natural stop for lunch. There were a couple of bakeries, clothes and hardware stores; Stratford had the appearance of a service town for locals. Mark found a café on the high street and so we ate lunch with the constant roar of traffic and rumbling of big logging trucks going by.
After lunch, as we left Stratford we finally started the Forgotten World Highway. Thanks to the change in direction, and the road going downhill ever so slightly, we finally picked up speed and flew along for the next 10km or so. It also finally warmed up!
As we rode north the road began to narrow and became more winding and hilly, but it was well sealed with few potholes. There was very little traffic.
There were a few climbs (“saddles”) to get over, Strathmore, Pohokura and finally Whangamomona.
And just before the start of the climb up the Pohokura Saddle we saw the figures of 2 cyclists having a bite to eat whilst perched on the road side barrier – it was David and Ross who had had their own adventure on the small roads climbing 1800m in the process.
There was a short climb to the Pohokura Saddle, where the gravel on our return trip would start.
I enjoyed the nice solid climb over the Whangamomona Saddle and descent down into Whangamomana.
Whangamomona, a historic frontier town, declared itself an “independent republic” in 1989 and held its own presidential elections after locals became frustrated with the local council. Previous presidents include Tai the Poodle (2003). They celebrate their “independence day” every January.
The main attraction is the historic Whangamomona Hotel. The first hotel burnt down in 1911 and the current one was rebuilt in 1912. Inside are lots of interesting historic black and white photos on the walls, a pub and a restaurant.
But first…we enjoyed a well deserved cold pint of beer.
Although there are rooms inside the main building, we chose to stay in the much newer lodge with ensuite facilities behind the hotel.
(The above picture is not the hotel!)
Day 1 totals and map: 117km; 1,470m of climb. All on good quality tar seal roads.
Day 2
After a very comfortable night in the lodge, we woke up to find a cold fog in the valley. We were glad that we had packed our puffa jackets! We had prearranged with the hotel to provide us with a packed lunch as there would not be any shops for supplies until we got back into New Plymouth. We all ditched the can of full fat coke that was included in the lunch pack (except for Mark).
As the first part of today’s route was back over the last 2 climbs from yesterday we gave David and Ross a 20 minute head start. We never caught them and next saw them again at the top of Pohokura Saddle where they were patiently waiting for us. That would be the theme for the next hour and a half…..
At the top of the Pohokura Saddle, instead of continuing on the main road, we turned right onto the innocuously named Junction Road.
Prior to the trip we had spent some time debating what wheels to put on my Roubaix. Normal road wheels or gravel. There was no such dilemma for Mark as he was on his recently arrived gravel bike. Although the vast majority of the route over the 2 days was on tar seal, there was a 15km section of gravel. I was told (promised?) by David that the gravel was “nice” and that it wouldn’t be a problem to ride on and that normal road tires were probably ok. Luckily, as my gravel wheels had also arrived in the shipping container, I decided to sacrifice some speed on the tar seal roads and elected to use my gravel wheels instead.
Luckily I did, for what followed can only be described as 15km of hell. It wasn’t the gravel which was the issue for me, it was the vast quantities of sand causing my bike to slip and slide.
Within 100 metres I had already got off the bike and started pushing. Not easy as I was in my road shoes rather than CX/MTB shoes (I need to go shopping). Within a few metres I stopped again and told Mark that I was turning round and going back to New Plymouth via yesterday’s route.
After some cajoling (from David) and mild threats (from Mark) I was persuaded to get back on my bike. If my smile looks slightly forced in the picture below that is because it is.
Ross had already disappeared into the distance on his eBike. With a final few words of encouragement, David also zoomed off downhill….soon to be joined by Mark.
There was much swearing. I reached the end of the gravel in Matau (see below) only to find that after the village the tarmac ended again.
I had to take the front wheel off to remove a stone. More swearing. Lots of walking and bike pushing. I fell off the bike into the sand. More swearing. More walking and bike pushing.
I eventually came across Mark again at the top of a hill – which I walked up pushing the bike whilst wearing out my beautiful S-Works road shoes – looking relaxed. He later admitted he was doing the Wordle of the day.
Finally, we reached the promised land that was Purangi School where we had arranged to rendezvous, including an orchard of fruit and a chance to refill our water bottles. By the time we arrived, David and Ross had already polished off their packed lunches, and probably had a nap.
More importantly, Purangi also marked the beginning of the end of the gravel road with only a few kilometres remaining before joining the tar seal road again. Hallelujah!
The rest of the ride was more uneventful – a few more climbs, a tunnel hewn out of the rock, some nice rolling roads, and a pretty river crossing across the historic Bertrand Road Bridge.
Eventually, we were back on the coastal walkway to New Plymouth…
… which we crossed into via the iconic Te Rewa Rewa Bridge.
A few kilometres outside New Plymouth, we said goodbye to Ross before David’s final gift – a short off road gravelly climb into the cemetery before another final steep hill.
Overall it was a lovely route – a big thank you to David for being the ride leader and tour guide. We already have plans to complete the rest of the Forgotten World Highway (from Taumarunui to Whangamomona) next summer.
Day 2 totals and map: 88km with about 15km of gravel and sand; 1,200m climb. Gravel section not suitable for road tyres! Note that this is the second half of the route along the Highway as described here.
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